Rembrandt's allergies have flared up again over the past couple of weeks. No clue what he's actually allergic to, but every spring and fall he gets this weird skin allergy where tons of little bloody spots/scabs appear all over him (not fleas, he's been checked and treated for those, and he's an indoor cat). I always hope they'll clear up on their own, but they just kind of get worse and worse until I get him dosed with prednisone for about a week. Anyway, I still have lots of prednisone around, but I wanted the vet to see him because he recently developed a big nasty sore raw spot on his cheek, and I wanted to know what further treatment that might need. So for the next week he's on antibiotics for that plus the prednisone.

He also had his blood and urine checked since it's been a while since we did that, and his numbers need to be monitored for kidney issues. While he's on prednisone I have to give him the subcutaneous fluids again because it's hard on his kidneys. He first went to the vet and was diagnosed with kidney disease back in September, so he got put on a renal diet and daily fluid injections then. But I quit giving him fluids around December because he just got so horrible about it, it was impossible to hold him still and get much of anything in him. So we just went with the diet alone after that and hoped that'd be enough. Good news, everyone! < / Professor Farnsworth > His numbers are all back to being well in the normal zone, and he's gained weight. It's looking more like what he had wasn't kidney disease, but rather some sort of acute kidney malady that's since corrected itself. I'm still going to keep him on the renal health diet, of course, but it's good to know that he's doing so well! It makes sense because the first time I took him in back in September was the only time he was actually acting out of the ordinary, like he wasn't feeling well. He's been back to his normal happy self ever since then. =)

Now if only we could figure out how to cure his allergies!